How to use Instagram for business
Instagram is a photo-sharing mobile app. It allows users to take photos or videos on their phones, add professional-looking filters, captions and even tags, and then upload them to other social media sites. Last year it had 200 million users and was one of the top ten smartphone apps. This year it has 300 million users active monthly, 70{06e29518e582b1cc2da09f8f2ea316dadc41c520023bcca83a4deb5e6ad0a3c6} of which are from outside the US. Those numbers alone give an idea of why more businesses than ever are using Instagram in their social media strategy. Instagram has even started its own Instagram for Business blog, which has tips, examples of great brand performances, and API examples, along with regular news from Instagram HQ. There’s this belief floating around, quite understandably, that only companies with visual products can really use Instagram for business purposes. While of course if you do have products which lend themselves well to photos you should definitely be promoting them on Instagram, more service-orientated businesses can still shine. Funny and cute pictures, of animals for example, are always great for attracting users’ attention, and posting pictures of your employees and your workplace can really increase your followers’ trust and loyalty in your company. Getting started on Instagram is easy. Here are 10 Instagram tips we found on exactly what you should do. (1) Download the app While Instagram does have an online web version, all the uploading and editing is strictly mobile only. (2) Choose a recognizable username You sign up for Instagram with an email address or a personal Facebook account. Once you sign up, you’ll be asked to choose a username. As with most social media sites, this should be as close to your business name as you possibly can. Instagram will also ask for your full name in the sign-up process. You can put your business name here instead, to maximise searchability. (3) Update your profile You get 150 characters to say who you are and what you do. If you’re focusing on local promotion, don’t forget to put where you are! (4) Profile picture This should generally be your business’ logo. Remember that the standard size for a profile picture is 110 pixels by 110 pixels – that’s really, really tiny. Bright colours and minimal text is the key here. (5) Integrate! A great thing about Instagram is that you can link your account to your other social media accounts, such as Facebook or Twitter. (6) Post a snap! (7) To take a picture, just press the button on your screen As mentioned above, you can add lots of different filters, alter the brightness,and perform many other edits to your new photo before adding a caption and tagging people and your location. On that note … (8) Location, location, location … When you click Name this Location on your new photo, you will see a list of previously Instagrammed locations in your area. Somebody may already have named your office location – if not, name it yourself! You’ll then be able to click on your location name and see every photo that has been tagged there. This enables you to see what Instragram users like and want to share about your business. (9) Spread the word! You can advertise your new Instagram on your other social media accounts, or share your new photographs straight from Instagram. Instagram has also kindly provided you with badges that you can put on your main site. Or anywhere you like, really. (10) Go forth and multiply! Like on any social media, it is vital to follow other users and brands. You can search by username, or by relevant hashtags. (12) Talk to people (13) And once you’ve found your new audience – engage with them. Like Facebook, starting someone’s name with @ will tag them so that they know they’ve been mentioned. Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed this article and have a better idea about how Instagram could be useful for you! Error: Contact form not found.